Monthly Archives: May 2012

It’s going to be a hot but beautiful day tomorrow. Thinking of grilling? Smith Family Farm will have lots of great steaks, pork chops, and other grillers. Ole Pioneer Kitchen will be bringing brats (never any preservatives, colorants, fillers or added fat). To keep the green on the plate, Lois’s Produce will be debuting their zucchini, squash, shelled English peas and more. Big Riggs Farm will be bringing all kinds of greens, strawberries, baby potatoes and much more. Want to show some love for the chef in your life? Greenstone Fields will have snapdragons, campanula, sweet peas, poppies and lilies by the stem or in beautiful bouquets. We’ll see you tomorrow!

Our first market last Sunday was a great success. Everyone with whom we spoke—customers, vendors, local merchants—had good things to say. It was outstanding to see many families, neighbors and friends hanging out, chatting, sampling some of their recently-purchased food. This validated our vision of a neighborhood-friendly enterprise that would serve as an additional focal point for the community. Even better that many of you walked to the market, which lowers our carbon footprint and preserves parking spaces for people who patron the Westover shops.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t improvements we can and will make to the market. Many of you made suggestions through our contact form and on Facebook, and directly to market staff and volunteers last week. We greatly appreciate this feedback and will be working over the next several markets to implement some of these ideas. You’ll notice some of these changes immediately, such as trash and recycling bins. Others will take some weeks.

Many people also asked about whether dogs are able to visit the market. As much as we strive to be all-inclusive (and we love dogs, too), unfortunately health regulations require that pets not be allowed in the market area. If you decide to bring your dog to the market, please secure it outside the market perimeter while you conduct your shopping.

Finally, farmers markets provide a unique opportunity for producers and consumers to meet and forge bonds – to expand the boundaries of our community. We hope that you’ll get to know our great vendors over the course of this and future market seasons. See you again on Sunday!

Wow. Just wow. What an amazing first day for Westover Farmers Market. We are so excited by the community response. The first day exceeded all of our wildest imaginations. We had 14 vendors selling all manner of delectables–so quickly that many vendors had exhausted their supplies by 10 AM. They promise to bring more next week. Many volunteers came out to help make the first day a success. And we also heard great support from Westover merchants, and certainly appreciate their patience as we iron out the wrinkles. And, of course, there was an unbelievable number of patrons. How many, you wonder? Well, we’re not quite sure, but we exhausted our supply of 1000 market info flyers by 11 AM. Thanks to everyone for such a great day. The only thing that can make it better is to see you all again next Sunday. Check back soon for updates – we’ll start to profile our vendors, provide updates on what you can expect at the market each week, and keep you current with all the latest WFM news.